Voltage regulator



July 13, 1943.

INSULA rm/v M. DEBREY VOLTAGE REGULATOR Filed NOV. 50, 1939 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l I II/ i]- la 63 75 72 63 7 S & 71 69 75 74 INSULATION 40 42 I L .41. 3 4% "J54. K; 47

gwvem boo M. Debrey July 13, 1943. M. DEBREY I 2,324,370

I VOLTAGE REGULATOR Filed Nov. 50, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 13, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,324,370 VOLTAGE REGULATOR Michael Debrey, East Moline, Ill.

Application November 30, 1939, Serial No. 306,961

7 Claims;

The present invention relates to regulators intended particularly for use in controlling alternating current generators.

More specifically it relates to voltage regulators wherein a resistance in series with the field winding of the direct current exciter is intermittently short-circuited so as to keep the field excitation of the alternator supplied from the said 'exc'iter at the proper value to maintain the correct output voltage of the alternating current generator. v

The invention presents improvements over the voltage regulator of my Patent 2,234,110, March 4, 1941 in which voltage regulation is dependent ,upon vibratory make-and-break coaction of an arm-carried movable contact with a relativelyfixed, yieldably mounted contact, the arm being actuated in one direction by gravity and in the opposite direction by the core armature of a solenoid to which is applied ,the voltage to be regulated. I That regulator is satisfactory in operation where it is mounted in a perpendicular position on a support not subject to vibration or to tilting movements but is not satisfactory where the regulator is mounted on a movable support such as a boat or truck.

The invention contemplates an alternating currentelectro-magnet having a winding supplied through a resistor from one of the output circuits of the alternator, an armature pivoted within the field of said electro-magnet, and a contact carried by said armature and cooperating with a relatively stationary contact, said pair of contacts being connected respectively to the terminals of the fieldrheostat of the exciter, the said electro-magnet preferably having an added .air gap in its magnetic circuit to increase the speed of response of said magnet due to the increased reluctance.

The invention contemplates improvements in various details of such regulators, such as means for varying the amplitude of the vibration, means for decreasing the resistance of the air acting on the vibratory member, and means for accurately counter-balancing the vibratory member so as to make the regulator relatively insensitive to variations of position and extraneous disturbances, such as might be encountered when the regulator is mounted on a portable generating outfit, mounted on a vehicl or carried by man or animal.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be stated specifically in the present specification and the drawings accompanying the.

In the accompanying drawings, which diagrammatically illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic elevation showing the structural parts of the instrument and indicating the circuits and electrical devices connected thereto;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic partly sectional plan view of the instrument itself, certain connections leading thereto also being indicated;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation, partly in section, 01 the relatively stationarycontact and its supporting and adjusting means; a

Fig. 4 is a side elevation thereof Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the vibratory contact with its supporting arm and balance weight; and

Fig.6 is a side elevation corresponding thereto. It will be noted that Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are drawn to a larger scale than Figs. 1 and 2. In all the figures, similar parts are designated by the same reference characters.

- Referring specifically to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the device comprises two sets of laminations I and 2 which are held at the proper positions to provide a large gap between the pole faces 3 and 4 to receive the armature 5, said surfaces 3 and 4 being slightly concave to cooperate properly with the ends 8 and I of the armature 5, which are correspondingly convex, so that the armature 5 may oscillate about its pivots Q, 9, without striking the pole faces 3 and 4 but nevertheless will move very close thereto.

The cor sections I and 2 at their other ends terminate at I 0 and I I, which are spaced apart a suitable distance to introduce a relatively large air gap in the U-shaped core at a point remote from the pole faces 3 and 4. In order to maintain the core sections I and 2 in their said positions, frames or plates I2 and I3 preferably of insulating material may be provided, through which pas the bolts I4, said bolts extending through bores I5 in the core sections and through corresponding holes in the plates 12 and I3.'tubular spacers I6 being provided to afford proper clearance for the mechanism, and nuts I! serving to secure the parts firmly in position.

A bushing I8 may be secured in the plate I2 by means of a nut I9, and a similar bushing 20 and nut 2| may be provided in the plate I3. A screw by a lock nut 26 while a screw 25 is similarly threaded through the bushing 2B, but need not be provided with a lock nut, since only one of the screws needs to be adjusted. The screw 25 also has a conical or other depression 2% therein and the armature b is mounted upon a shaft or spindle Zl, whose pointed ends 8 and 9 are mounted to move freely in said cups or cavities.

A spring 23, here shown as helical, surrounds the spindle 2i, being secured at one end to a pin or screw 25? on the armature 5, while its other end is similarly secured to a pin 36 carried by a stationary part of the device, here shown as the head or flange of the bushing it, so that said spring may be adjusted by turning the bushing as a whole, before tightening the nut it.

A bracket 3i may be secured to the plate iii by any-suitable means, such as the screw 33 and nut 33, and this bracket affords a support for the relatively stationary but vibratory contact. As illustrated, the vertical stem or bracket 36 may have a prolongation 35 extending through a corresponding bore in the bracket 3i, a screw 36 serving to retain the support 36 in said bracket ill in its adjusted position. The upstanding portion of the bracket has a hole till near its upper end, through which passes the threaded shank or stem 38 of a member 39 carrying a contact Gil, a nut ll being threaded on the free end of the member 38, with a fiber or other preferably nonmetallic washer c2 interposed, as shown. The

nut M is preferably formed with a tubular extension which receives the shank 33 as shown in Fig. 3.

A spring it urges the member 39 away from the arm 36. The spring 38, as well as a reinforclug spring G6, are secured at their lower ends to the corresponding end of the arm 34! by a screw 66, thespring tll being somewhat shorter than the spring 33 and bearing flatly against the outer side thereof. The spring 34% is very much stiffer than the spring 03 andserves to reinforce and guide the latter, while itself being capable of adjustment by the screws (ii and (it, for short and long contact intervals respectively, said screws being threaded through the member fi l. As the member at is relatively stationary, it need not be particularly light in weight and may be made large enough to be suitably rigid.

However, the vibrating support 49, which is carried by the armature 5, should have its surface normal to its direction of vibration reduced as much as possible, to keep the resistance or the air as small as possible, so that the damping will notbe excessive. This member 419 may there fore suitably be made of sheet metal or the like, preferably bent into channel cross section as shown, and with the web of the channel removed throughout most of its length. It carries a screw-threaded member all having a head with a contact 52 thereon, cooperating with the stationary contact (iii, a nut 53 serving to secure it in position.

The member 59 is mounted on the shaft 2i. and has a screw-threaded shank 66 extending down= wardly therefrom, to receive the threaded counterpoise 55, which may be held in adjusted position by the lock nut bit. The armature 5 may be held to the spindle 21 in any desired way, as by a collar til and a nut 58 threaded on said spindle.

The electrical connections will now be described.

of the core members I and 2 and preferably insu-.

Latetgfrom the same by a suitable tubular memer tively fine wire and has a large number of turns, as is customary in voltage coils. One terminal of the coil as is connected through conductor iii to one of the output leads 62, of the alternating current generator 53, while the other terminal of the coil bl] is connected through conductor 56 and resistor 65 to a companion output lead 66 of the said generator, for example, the conductors '62 and 66 may be the sole output terminals of the generator, or one side of a three-wire system, or one of the phases of a multiphase generator, as the case may be.

The field winding ill of the alternator 63 is connected through conductors 68 and 639 to the brushes lb and ll of the direct current generator 52, which serves to excite the field of the alter= mater. The conductor 68 also extends further and terminates at the member 35, so that it is in electrical connection with the stationary contact Alt. The conductor t9 leads to the field winding it of the excite'r, then through the field rheostat l6 and its sliding contact it back to the conductor t8, so that the field excitation of the exciter will be supplied and controlled through said rheostat.

An additional conductor 75 leads from the other terminal of the rheostat, that is, the common terminal of the rheostat and the exciter field winding, to the member 39, the portion it of said conductor being of suitable flexibility to offer no great resistance to the vibratory motion of member 19. A capacitance such as a condenser W is bridged across conductors t8 and it, to eliminate sparking between the contacts Gil and 52.

Th operation is as follows:

When the generating outfit is in service,' a relatively small alternating current will flow through the coil (it, under the control of the fixed resistor t5, which restricts the current to a suitable value, proportional to the voltagebeing produced by the alternator. Thiscurrent produces an alternating magnetic flux through the core sections l and 2 and the armature t, tending to draw the said armature periodically and synchronously into line with-the pole pieces. This produces an oscillatory motion of the armature 6, having a period determined by the frequency of the altematlng current coming from the generator, and an amplitude dependent upon the voltage of said current.

The contacts it! and 52 will therefore touch one another periodically and for intervals dependent upon the position of the armature and the amplitude of the vibration. Since the contact 60 is carried by a spring 63, it may yield when the other contact strikes it and thus maintain the connection for a period dependent in part upon the amplitude of vibration, as stated. Whenever such connection exists it is clear that the rheostat M will be short-circuited, thereby raising the voltage of the exciter and in turn augmenting the voltage of the alternator to a corresponding extent.

Inspection of Fig. 1 will show that when the armature 5 is deflected further in a clockwise direction, the intervals during which contact is made will be relatively shorter than when the armature 5 is not deiiected to such a great extent.

However, the clockwise motion of the armature corresponds to an increase of flux in the regulator due to an increase of output voltage of the The winding Ml is usually made of rela- In this way, by adjusting thesprings 28, 43 and 44 suitably, and also by setting the rheostat contact 18 to the correct position, it will be possible within reasonable limits to maintain the output voltage of the alternator 63 at the desired value.

,By adjusting the counterpoise 55 to the correct position onthe screw 54, the oscillating system is adjusted to operate correctly in any position of the watch, thus making the present regulator well adapted for portable use, where it is not possible to set the apparatus in a correctly leveled posi-" tion, because oflack of time, or because it'is mounted on a moving support such as a vehicle or other carrying-device.

It will benoted that thescrews' 41 and 48 are located at different distances-from-the screw 46. This affords a greater range-of adjustability for the device for tuning the contacts, andwhile in flux corresponding to that produced by the voltage to be regulated.

2. In a voltage regulator, the combination of a substantially U-shaped core of magnetic material terminating in opposed concave pole faces, an. armature of magnetic material mounted pivotally for oscillation between said pole faces, the

maybe made independent of the position of the regulator, much as the balance wheel of a watch certain cases either one screw or the other could be omitted, where it is knownQbeforehand what class of service the regulator istoassume, where the device is to be of general use, it is preferable to retain both adjusting screws. v

The washer 42 is provided to prevent any'undue wear from occurring between the nut 45 and the arm 34. This washer may be made ofany suitable material, such as Bakelite, fiber, etc.,

which will not readilycutthe'relatively harder metal, ofwhich the member -34is made.

It will be seen that the armatur 5 will tend to take up a mean position corresponding to the mean value of the magnetic flux acting thereon,

while nevertheless constantly vibrating slightly, due to the alternating character of said flux.

This vibration makes the regulator very sensitive and tends to prevent sticking of the contacts.

' While one form of the. devicehas been disclosed ends of the armature being convex to coact with said pole faces, a contact carried by the armature, means for changing the center of gravity of the armature and its contact to dynamically balance the same, a relatively stationary contact to co- .act with the first mentioned contact, said contacts being engageable in a vibratory manner, a spring for urging the relatively stationary contact toward the first mentioned contact, means for limiting the movement of the relatively stationary contact toward the first mentioned contact, means to tune said contacts by adjusting the tension of said spring, a spring for biasing the armature to cause it to assume a definite position for a given flux acting thereon, means for adjusting the last mentioned spring to vary the period during which the contacts remain engaged, and means comprising a winding on the core to be energized by applying thereto the voltagt to beregulated. i

3. In a voltage regulator, the combination of a substantially U-shaped core of magnetic material terminating in opposed pole faces, a dynamically balanced armature of magnetic material v mounted pivotally for oscillation between said pole faces, a. rigid arm movable with the armature and projecting radially in one direction from its pivot, a contact carried by said arm, adjustable means projecting radially from the pivot of said armature to counter-balance said arm and its contact, a relatively stationary contact to coact with the first mentioned contact, said contacts being engageable in a vibratory manner, a

- spring for urging the relatively stationary contact toward the first mentioned contact, means for limiting the movement of the relatively sta- While the preferred embodiment of the invention herein presented is illustrative of its use in the regulation of the voltage of alternators, the invention may be used also for other purposes within its capabilities.

I claim:

1. In a voltage regulator, the combination of a pivoted member so constructed and mounted as tobe oscillated when an alternating magnetic flux is applied directly thereto, an oscillating contact'movable with said member and spaced r'a= dlally outward from its pivot, said member and said spring means, and means for applying directly to said member an alternating magnetic tionary contact toward the first mentoned contact, means to tune said contacts by adjusting the tension of said spring, a spring connected between the armature and the core for biasing the armature to cause it to assume a definite position for a given flux acting thereon,.means for adjusting the last mentioned spring to vary the period during which the contacts remain engaged, and means comprising a winding on the core to be energized by applying thereto the voltmotion to minimize air resistance, an oscillatory contact carried by said arm, adjustable means projecting radially from the pivot of said member to counter-balance said arm and its contact,

a relatively stationary, vibratory contact to 00- act with said oscillatory contact, said contacts being engageable in a vibratory manner, a spring for urging said vibratory contact toward said oscillatory contact, means for limiting the movement of said vibratory contact toward said oscillatory'contact under the action of said spring, means to tune the saidcontacts by adjusting said spring, spring means for biasing said member to cause it to assume a definite position for a given flux acting thereon, means to vary the period during which said contacts remain engaged by adjusting said spring means, and means for ap plying directly to said member an alternating magnetic flux corresponding to that produced by the voltage to be regulated.

5. In a voltage regulator, the combination of a pivoted member so constructed and mounted as to be oscillated when an alternating magnetic flux is, applied directly thereto, an oscillatory contact movable with said member and spaced radially outward from its pivot, said member and its contact being dynamically balanced, a stationary support having an opening, a steinreciprocable in said opening and having at one end a stop headland at its other end a vibratory contact to coact with said oscillatory contact, said contacts being 'engageable in a vibratory manner, a iibre washer on said stem between its head and said support, a spring for urging said vibratom contact toward said oscillatory contact, means to tune said contacts by adjusting said spring,'spring means for biasing said meniher to cause it to assume a definite position for a. given flux acting thereon, means to vary the period during which said contacts remain engaged by adjustingsaid spring means, and means for applying dirmtly to said member an altermating magnetic flux corresponding to that produced by the voltage to be regulated.

d. In a voltage regulator, the combination of a frame including opposed members of insulating material, a shaft bearing carried by one of said members, a rotatably adjustable bushing carried by theother of said members, a shaft bearing carried by said bushing, one of said shaft bearings being adjustable, a shaft rotatable in said bearings, a substantially U-shaped core of mag= nating'in opposed pole faces, an armature of magnetic material fixed to said shaft and positioned for oscillation between said pole faces, a coil spring surrounding the shaft and having one end anchored to said adjustable bushing and its other end to said armature, a contact carried by the armature, means for changing the center of gravity of the armature and its contact to dynamically balance the samea relatively stationary contact to coact with the first mentioned contact, a spring for urging the relatively stationary contact toward the first mentioned contact, means for limiting. the movement oi the relatively stationary contact toward the iirst mentioned contact, said contacts being engage= able in a vibratory manner, means to tune said contacts by adjusting the tension of the last mentioned spring, and means comprising a wind ing on the core to be energized by applying there= to the voltage to be regulated.

7. An improvement in a voltage regulator oi the tyne in which voltage regulation is dependent upon vibratory niake-and break coaction of an arm-carried movable contact with a relatively fixed, yieldably mounted contact, the makeand= break movements of the carrying arm of said movable contact being produced by an armature moved in one direction by an alternating mag= neticflux and in the opposite direction by g'rav-= deity; said improvement comprising a single rigid netic material mounted in the frame and termi-= 5 not be affected by gravity or by shocks in various directions when the reg ulator is tilted or sub- I jected to vibration.

DJHCHAEL 

